


Slow and Steady

by notallballs (notallbees)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Hair Washing, M/M, Post-Canon, Recovery, References to Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 12:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10617075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notallbees/pseuds/notallballs
Summary: Oikawa’s expression was tight and anxious, but he nodded. He took a few loping steps along their usual route, his footfalls heavy and uncertain. Hajime watched as he gradually broke into a jog, and picked up his feet to follow. When Oikawa had settled into a steady pace, Hajime fell in step at his side, silently letting him determine their rhythm.Recovery is a marathon, not a sprint, and Hajime intends to be there every step of the way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> **Mild warnings in end notes**
> 
>  
> 
>    
> Thank you to Frog for showing me the ways of chubbykawa, and to Mousecat for being the best cheerleader :3 This is for you guys.

The day they planned to go running was unseasonably cold. Hajime stalked around the apartment looking for his missing running shoe, periodically yelling at Oikawa to get a move on. When he stepped back out into the living room, Oikawa sat glued to the local weather report, seemingly oblivious to the way he was bouncing his knees in apparent agitation. 

"Oi," Hajime said, chucking a cushion at Oikawa's back. "Don't just sit there, you should be stretching."

Oikawa shot him an irritated glance. "They said it's cold out, what if there's ice?"

"There's no ice," Hajime said, rolling his eyes. "Have you seen my other shoe?"

"How should I know where you left it?" Oikawa snapped, turning off the TV and throwing the remote at the couch.

Hajime turned away and went back to the bedroom, leaving Oikawa to fume by himself. It was difficult to bite his tongue, especially when Oikawa snapped at him over nothing, but Hajime was doing his best to cut him a little slack. After a moment he heard Oikawa's socked feet whisper across the floorboards, then a low grunt as he started his stretches. Satisfied, Hajime continued his search. 

A pile of clothes and other detritus had gathered in the corner of their bedroom, and Hajime dug through it until he found his running shoe buried under a pair of Oikawa's jeans. One of the laces was fraying; he would need to replace them soon. By the time he walked back out to the living room, Oikawa was sitting on the floor, his legs spread and his fingers pressed against the floor in front of him.

"Need a hand?" Hajime asked, walking up behind him.

"Mm."

Putting his shoes to one side, Hajime leaned over him and carefully pressed down on Oikawa's back, helping him deepen the stretch. Oikawa grunted again, but didn't complain, and Hajime watched Oikawa's fingers stretch and skid out over the floorboards.

"Feel okay?"

"Mm."

"I'm gonna run to the store on the corner, I'll meet you downstairs?"

Oikawa nodded. He sat up again with a groan. "See you soon," he said, sounding a little winded. 

It was colder out than Hajime had expected, though as he had predicted, the paths were dry and free of ice. Returning from the convenience store with two sports drinks, he stood shivering on the pavement outside their apartment building for several minutes, jogging on the spot to keep himself warm until Oikawa arrived. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa said in a sing song voice when he finally stepped outside. 

Hajime nodded and handed him a bottle. "You done warming up?"

"Of course."

"You did all the stretches the physio told you to?"

Oikawa groaned. " _Yes_ , Hajime."

"Promise?" Hajime asked, folding his arms. 

Oikawa laughed, the sound bright and false. "Don't you trust me, Iwa-chan?"

Hajime reached out and gripped Oikawa's shoulder, then ran his hand down Oikawa's arm to his elbow. "Come on," he urged, giving him a gentle tug. "Are we going or not?"

Oikawa nodded, and started off in the direction of the nearby park. They had been in the habit of walking there since Oikawa's discharge from the hospital, first once or twice a fortnight, then a couple of times a week. After Oikawa was well enough to go out every day, they started venturing further afield again, slowly relearning the city together. 

When they reached the park, Hajime repeated some of his stretches, warming up the muscles in his legs. For a few moments Oikawa just watched him with an unreadable expression, before sighing and joining in.

“Let’s go,” Hajime said after a few minutes, when he was absolutely certain Oikawa would be warmed up. He lifted one foot and kicked his toe against the ground, casting a quick look in Oikawa’s direction.

Oikawa’s expression was tight and anxious, but he nodded. He took a few loping steps along their usual route, his footfalls heavy and uncertain. Hajime watched as he gradually broke into a jog, and picked up his feet to follow. When Oikawa had settled into a steady pace, Hajime fell in step at his side, silently letting him determine their rhythm. 

“You can go on ahead,” Oikawa panted after half a kilometre. “I know this isn’t much of a workout for you.”

“Stop trying to get rid of me,” Hajime said lightly.

After a kilometre, Oikawa was breathing heavily, struggling even with their sedate pace. Hajime didn’t say anything, only too aware that any encouraging words would be met with sarcasm at best, outright hostility at worst. He dropped back instead, jogging a couple of paces behind, until Oikawa turned and squinted at him over one shoulder. 

“If you’re trying to make me feel better—” he snapped

Hajime shrugged. “Just admiring the view.”

It was hard to tell if Oikawa blushed, considering he was already pink with exertion, but he got the same constipated look on his face as he did when Hajime said something particularly sappy. He turned to face the path again, grumbling.

“Don’t you dare!” Hajime called out when Oikawa suddenly picked up his pace. "There's no point exhausting yourself, I'm going to stare at it no matter how fast you run!"

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa yelped, throwing a filthy look over his shoulder. "Keep your voice down!"

Hajime laughed loudly, and the sound echoed back from the nearby trees. It felt good to be out in the fresh air, and better still to be enjoying it with Oikawa, even if the feeling was tempered by an ongoing undercurrent of anxiety. At first it had been hard to leave him, even to go as far as the convenience store, but Oikawa's bad temper and vocal dislike of being coddled had made it a little easier to go to work or visit his parents, even if he worried the whole time he was gone.

After a second kilometre, Oikawa's pace started to lag again, his gait favouring his right leg. 

"Hey," Hajime called out, catching up to him. "Let's walk for a bit."

"I can run," Oikawa snapped.

Hajime scowled and gently cuffed him around the back of the head. "And I'm telling you not to!"

"Ow! Iwa-chan!" 

"You promised not to overdo it," he said, grabbing Oikawa's arm and tugging on his wrist. "I told you, a little and often is better than killing yourself trying to go from zero to ninety."

Oikawa groaned loudly. "I don't need a sermon."

"I agree. You're smarter than this, so stop it."

Scowling, Oikawa finally slowed to a walk, shaking off Iwa's grasp on his wrist. "I can do it," he insisted, sounding petulant. 

Hajime slung his arm around Oikawa's shoulders and nuzzled his face against Oikawa's sweaty hair. "Hey," he murmured, resisting a pathetic attempt by Oikawa to push him away. "Why the rush, hm? It's taken me all week to get you out here, and now you want to—"

"That's just it," Oikawa spat, elbowing him in the chest so he finally let go with a surprised _oof_. "I've wasted so long sitting around. I'm a mess, I can't even look in a mirror, let alone run around the park."

"Hey," Hajime said, catching hold of his wrist and pulling him to a stop. "Hey now, come on. You know it's not that simple," he said, trying not to get annoyed. "You were really ill, it takes time to come back from something like that."

"I hate it," Oikawa muttered. He was staring out across the park, his arms hanging limp at his sides. The hoodie he wore had belonged to Hajime, and the sleeves were too short for him, barely covering his wrists. As Hajime looked at him, Oikawa's shoulders began to shudder, and Hajime reached out to pull him into a fierce hug.

" _Tooru_." He sighed with relief when Oikawa's hands came up to clutch at his t-shirt and he buried his face in Hajime's neck. "You'll get there," Hajime said in a low voice, letting his mouth linger over the side of Oikawa's neck. "I know you will, you pigheaded idiot."

Oikawa let out a choked laugh and clutched him tighter. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into Hajime's shoulder. "Can we go home now?"

"Let's stretch first," Hajime said, pulling away from him. He held Oikawa at arm's length by his shoulders and looked at him sternly. "I mean it, I know you're tired, but stretch out properly."

"I know, I know," Oikawa grumbled, waving him off. He hobbled off the path and crossed the grass to a small paved area where in the summer there would be picnic benches. Although there was no ice on the path, the night's frost made the grass crunch under his feet when Hajime followed. He could feel it through his worn running shoes, and it made him smile. 

By the time he caught up, Oikawa was already grumbling as he moved into a lunge stretch. "What now?" Hajime asked, joining in.

Oikawa grimaced. "I will have spent more time today stretching than running."

"Good. You need to do it every day."

"Bah."

Hajime rolled his eyes. "Stop making me tell you things you should already know."

Oikawa muttered something nasty under his breath that Hajime ignored. 

By the time they got back to their apartment, Oikawa was visibly exhausted and scowling at everything. Hajime forced a glass of water into his hand, standing over him while he finished it, then pulled him into the bathroom and started to undress him. 

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa scolded, folding his arms across his chest when Hajime stripped him of his hoodie and t-shirt. "I'm not a child."

"Who said you were?" Hajime said in a placatory tone. He shrugged off his own shirt and dropped it on the floor, before putting his hands on Oikawa's waist and stepping closer. He liked the feeling of Oikawa's flesh under his hands, especially now that he'd put on extra weight over his slow convalescence; the substance was reassuring, so far from the skeletal creature he'd been at the worst part of his illness. Hajime had spent too many nights dozing in a chair by Oikawa's hospital bed, holding his thin, frail fingers. 

"Hajime," Oikawa muttered, ducking his gaze away and hugging himself more tightly. "Why do you have to look at me like that?"

"Like what?" Hajime squeezed his hips, and Oikawa winced. 

"Like I'm—like you still—ugh, I don't know."

Hajime tucked his face into the curve of Oikawa's neck, nosing at his jaw and inhaling the familiar, healthy scent of his skin. "So what?" he murmured, running his fingers gently up the sides of Oikawa's waist and feeling him quiver in response. "So gorgeous?"

Oikawa huffed. "Hajime—"

"Still the same beautiful, stubborn, terrifying idiot I fell in love with?"

"That's a terrible compliment," Oikawa said, snorting, but he finally unfolded his arms and looped them around Hajime's neck. "Thank you," he added, leaning in for a soft kiss. 

"Come on," Hajime said after a moment, pressing another kiss against Oikawa's jaw before giving him a firm tug. "You need a shower, you stink."

Oikawa made a face, but didn't protest, which clearly showed how tired he must have been. Hajime let go of him long enough to get the shower running, and stripped Oikawa of his shorts and boxers, pausing only briefly to give his ass a covetous squeeze. 

Hajime made Oikawa sit on the shower stool and sluiced him down with warm water, before picking up the shampoo and handing the shower head to Oikawa. "Sit still, okay?" he said, before applying the shampoo to Oikawa's wet hair and beginning to rub it in. 

Oikawa, ever the fidget, was unusually obedient. He sat still, his shoulders stiff, while Hajime worked the shampoo into his hair. Frowning, Hajime cupped Oikawa's head in both hands and started to massage his scalp, starting at his temples and working back, over the crown of his head. Oikawa groaned and finally relaxed, slumping back against Hajime's stomach while he worked. 

"Hnn—Hajime."

"Just relax," Hajime said gently, moving his hands down to knead Oikawa's neck, and then his shoulders. 

By the time he was done, Oikawa was uncharacteristically docile for the remainder of their shower, letting Hajime soap him up with a sponge then rinse him off again. 

"You're unusually well-behaved today," Hajime said when he had finished, and turned to wash himself off briskly.

"I like it when Iwa-chan takes care of me," Oikawa said in a dreamy voice.

"News to me," Hajime said evenly, but didn't bother to pursue it. Oikawa was difficult to take care of, in that he was impatient with his own recovery, and hated being coddled. Some days Hajime had been forced to call in one of their friends to help out, just to stop him from throwing Oikawa off their tiny balcony. 

When they were both clean, Hajime turned off the water and reached over to grab a towel for Oikawa. "Up you get," he said, tugging Oikawa to his feet and wrapping the towel around his shoulders. "Now you smell almost bearable."

"Thanks, Iwa-chan," Oikawa said sleepily. 

Hajime grabbed another towel and draped it over Oikawa's head, ruffling his hair like he was drying a dog. 

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa protested, laughing and making a futile attempt to fend him off. "I can do it!" 

Grinning, Hajime left him to it and grabbed a towel for himself. 

Once they were both dry, Hajime coaxed Oikawa into eating some porridge, before tucking him back into bed to take a nap. The sleepy acquiescence from the shower had dissipated by the time Hajime managed to get Oikawa into a clean t-shirt and boxers, and it had become more like trying to wrestle his baby brother into bed when Hajime was a teenager. 

"I'm not tired," Oikawa wailed, kicking back the cover when Hajime tried to pull it over him. 

"Oikawa."

Oikawa folded his arms. " _What_."

"Get the fuck in bed, or I'm calling your mother."

Oikawa shook his head. "Get in with me." He winced. "Please?"

Hajime sighed. "That's more like it. Fine." Hajime went to the window and closed the blind, then climbed into bed and arranged himself so that Oikawa could curl up in his lap. It was awkward, because if Tooru had been all limbs before, now he was all limbs and an extra twenty kilograms of weight from not exercising. Luckily they had years of practice fitting themselves together like puzzle pieces. "Happy now?" Hajime asked once they were settled. 

"Mmm," Oikawa hummed happily, snuggling into his chest. He was quiet for a few moments, then he relaxed and let out a long sigh. "Hajime?"

"Mm?"

"I'm sorry."

"Good. You're being a little shit."

Oikawa huffed. "I—yeah. Sorry." He fell quiet, turning his face to hide in Hajime's armpit. 

Hajime sensed that it wasn't what he'd wanted to say, but when Oikawa stayed quiet, he gave him a gentle shake. "Hey, what is it?"

"I just," Oikawa began, twisting his fingers in the hem of Hajime's sleeve. "I hate being a burden to you."

"Tooru, you idiot," Hajime said crossly. He cupped Oikawa's face in his hand and leaned down to kiss him firmly. "You're not a burden to me."

Oikawa bit his lip. "But—"

"Did you get sick on purpose?"

"What?" Oikawa asked, eyes widening. "Of course not—what—"

"Exactly." Hajime reached up and flicked a damp curl of hair off Oikawa's forehead. "Shit happens, that's all. We just have to deal with things as they come."

Oikawa's eyebrows drew together and his bottom lip wavered. Just as it looked like he was about to burst into tears, he buried his face in Hajime's t-shirt again. "I love you," he mumbled, the words barely audible. 

Hajime grinned and hugged him tight. "You're terrible."

 

 

Two days later, Hajime sat in front of the TV, re-lacing one of his running shoes, while Oikawa stalked around the apartment looking for his running shorts. The TV promised snow that afternoon, but for now the streets were dry. 

"Hey," Oikawa said, flinging a pair of balled up socks at Hajime's head. "Have you stretched yet? I'm ready to go."

"Without your shorts?" Hajime asked, raking his eyes over Oikawa.

Oikawa flushed. "Are you hiding them?"

"Why the fuck would I hide them?"

"To look at my ass. You know they're the only pair that still fit me."

Hajime grinned. "Okay, fair cop. But no, I think they're under the bed."

"Thank you!" Oikawa yelled, disappearing back into their bedroom. 

"Did you do all your stretches?" Hajime called out.

"You know I did!"

At last, when they were both ready, they walked down to the street together. Hajime glanced over at Oikawa as they started to walk toward the park, but the apprehension of the other day was nowhere to be seen. 

"Remember," Hajime said, when they stepped through the park gates. "Start slow."

Oikawa glanced back at him. "Slow and steady," he said, raising his hand to flash Hajime a peace sign. He accompanied it with a silly smile. "I've got it."

Hajime grinned at him. "Then let's go."

**Author's Note:**

>  **Warning:** Oikawa has recently recovered from a serious illness for which he was hospitalised, so there are references to that. He's fine now tho :3
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](https://notallballs.tumblr.com/) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/notallbees) | [my iwaoi fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Brelationship_ids%5D%5B%5D=1329922&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=0&fandom_id=758208&user_id=notallbees)


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